With the recent release of Skyfall, I have some curious questions to ask.

What are your personal favorite Bonds?

I personally haven’t been a fan of the latest Craig Bond. Not because of Craig himself nor his acting, but because of the way they’ve changed to a more “human” character. I loved the suave, smoothie James Bond who was always invincible. He was always so cool and calm that he would never forgo the opportunity for a quip.

I find the latest Bond with too many weaknesses, and too “human.” I preferred the “pointless fun” type character invincibility of the pre-reboot James Bonds. Of course this is all personal preference. Some will undoubtedly like the new way Bond is written.

I grew up during the Brosnan era, and when they announced his retirement from the role, I couldn’t imagine anyone else being James Bond. While I understand your preference, @raymondu999, I still favor the current, humanized 007. It makes it easier to empathize with the guy (and his quips all the more sharper), and I enjoy the movies so much more because of that. So Daniel Craig for me.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen many of the older movies. Sean Connery was brilliant in Thunderball though, but can’t say the same of Roger Moore… I’m not a fan of the more campy James Bond movies.

While we’re on the subject of James Bond, I’d very much like to know everyone’s favourite Bond movie. And for those who’ve seen it, what’s your opinion of Skyfall?

@raymondu999 – So be it. Let’s keep it to a spoiler-free, simple Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down.

As for my personal favourite, it has to be Casino Royale – so many great, memorable moments in that one – with Goldfinger and Thunderball close behind – I’m a sucker for the classics, though many of them haven’t aged too well.

I watched all the movies in the summer of 2011, from first to last. I liked all of them, but my favourite Bond is Tiimothy Dalton. And I like The Living Daylights the most! I guess Dalton did a very good job as Bond, too bad the producers had some legal problems at the time and he starred in just two movies.

I prefer Connery. Moore looked too old for the stuff he was supposed to be doing, some fights looked ridiculous. My #2 is Brosnan. I did not warm up to Lazenby and Dalton, can’t really say why. Concerning Craig… while the new dirtier Bond is thrilling, perhaps deeper and more realistic, it is exactly for this reason that I prefer older Bonds. If I want an aggresive and highly physical hero, I watch some classic Bruce Willis or Bourne, don’t need Bond for it.
My favourite James Bond movie is True Lies. It has everything a Bond movie should have and does it amazingly well. Just the Bond is missing, but I am willing to forgive that.

Oh man, James Bond. My answering machine in college had a 20-minute passage of Thunderball that people had to listen to – surprisingly, many women listened to the whole message before leaving a message. Talk about commitment. I ended up marrying one of them!

I think Roger Moore defined Bond for most of my generation – the agent that doesn’t take himself that seriously. Of course, Sean Connery was iconic in his role as Bond in the early movies

Dalton actually wasn’t that bad in the Living Daylights – for some reason I’ve had a soft for Maryam d’Abo since that movie. I also loved the Aston Martin Vantage Volante in that movie – a stunning car.

Brosnan did a really good job as Bond especially in Goldeneye – for some reason the first movie is usually the best. He was also quite good in Tomorrow Never Dies but The World is not enough andDie Another Day were disappointments.

Daniel Craig was fantastic in the remake of Casino Royale which is probably one of my favorite Bond movies. However, I didn’t like Quantum of Solace as much. I’m hoping that Craig will redeem himself in Skyfall.

I’m really hoping that Skyfall is Goldfinger/Goldeneye-grade. It better be!

Casino Royale was the best Bond movie i’ve seen. I loved how they changed Bond so radically. I mean, Brosnan was the kind of Bond that sees you from a distance, doesn’t do anything and still kills you. Craig’s Bond comes to you, punches you hard in the face and kills you. I liked that somehow.

I’ve not read the books to know which kind of Bond is the closest to the original… but my vote goes to Craig because of Casino Royale.

Having read through this thread, it seems that there’s a nice variety in Bond preferences. If anyone’s keeping score, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan each have one vote, Daniel Craig on two votes, and no love for Lazenby.

I don’t have a favourite Bond because they’re all as good as each other from what I have seen (though I haven’t seen Lazenby in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). The first Bond film I saw was “The Spy Who Loved Me” with Roger Moore, which I enjoyed a lot.

While we’re on the subject of James Bond, I’d very much like to know everyone’s favourite Bond movie. And for those who’ve seen it, what’s your opinion of Skyfall?

My favourite Bond film is probably “Casino Royale”, I also really enjoyed “GoldenEye”. The worst James Bond is definitely “Moonraker”, James Bond in space and Jaws turning into a good guy was ridiculous.

I enjoyed Skyfall, it was much better than Quantum of Solace which I didn’t really understand until I read about it afterwards. I can’t say much about Skyfall without spoling it unfortunately.

@Slr thanks for the skyfall comments – I’ve gotta make time to go see it…

@Raymondu999 – of course, the DB5 is the quintessential Bond car. The Vantage Volante from the Living Daylights is also a gorgeous car – there was one parked next to my school in Belgium and that might be what I like it so much. It just looks so classy in front of a manor sitting under a tree on a stone-paved road. On a more modern note, I liked the DBS in Casino Royale – or modified DB9 as the DBS wasn’t ready – more than the Vanquish in Die Another Day.